Solitude

  • Good Dough

    Like a good doughdestined to become fragrant, hot bread,dripping with melted butter and sweet honey,I, too, occasionally need to be punched down,deflated,returned to an earlier state,and left in a warm, quiet placeto rise again. Like a good dough,I, too, relish a… Continue reading

  • In what ways, today,will you increase your awarenessthat you are God's beloved? By reading this,you have. And you might slow down    sing    sit    keep silencewalk    open    hold hands    absorblisten    meditate    stretch   … Continue reading

  • Advent Lament

    No, you come to early,    Lord Jesus:Just announced, yet here it is,    two weeks from your arrival. We've got too much to do…    Chex Mix to make,    cookies to bake.Thank God (I mean, thank your Father) … Continue reading

  • Advent Grief, Revisited

    (for Jeremy and Mason) How, at your end, are things? Christmas just a week awayand such sudden emptinessof home, of heart death leaves us vacant;I have felt it;negative space the shape of your beloved for a timeyou shall occupy that… Continue reading

  • December Work

    A dozen tasks traipse through my headas I lie silent on my bed.It's sugar plums I wish would dance;they hold a good deal more romancethan deadlines, proofs and printer's woes.But thus it is, and so it goes. It's not the… Continue reading

  • Veils

    Throughout lifeeach lossremoves another of the veilsthat obscure the Mysterywe desperately yearnto see and hold. Some veilsslip slowly from their rods,like so much sighing. Some veilsare torn awayby sudden and ferocious winds,like flashes of celestial anger. Loss hurts so very much.… Continue reading

  • Fireflies

    shim'ring shards of lightbreak from the breast of the moondrift as night glitter Text and image © 2014 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • The Pier

    I stand at the end of the pier,face to the dark and the wind.Waves roll toward me,each one another tomorrow–identical tomorrows,endless.I feel chilled;the wind, the waves, the lonelinessempty me. Text and image © 2014 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Photography 10

    I finally understand. I photographstillness. And when I do,I receivestillness. Text and image © 2014 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Photography 3

    Today,let a good photobe your textfor prayer. Text and image © 2014 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading